Discover Melbourne
Melbourne contains two historic downtown stories. Melbourne and Eau Gallie were separate communities until voters approved their merger in 1969. The former Eau Gallie downtown therefore is not merely a recently named district within an older unified city; it carries its own earlier civic identity. That distinction helps explain why Melbourne's historic places are spread between different centers.
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At Crane Creek, the city's account of its founders highlights three formerly enslaved settlers: Peter Wright, Wright Brothers and Balaam Allen. Beginning in 1867, their contributions included homesteads, mail service, citrus farming, a grocery and the community's first church. Wright Brothers is the name of one individual in this account, not a reference to the aviation pioneers. Melbourne incorporated on December 22, 1888, after those early community-building years.
Eau Gallie's riverfront has its own later chapter of preservation and reinvestment. The city established the Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront Community Redevelopment Area on May 22, 2001. Its record describes work on Eau Gallie Square, the pier, sidewalks, signs and building facades. These projects show how public spaces and older commercial buildings remain part of the area's identity.
For deeper local research, the city's historic-preservation reports and Eau Gallie redevelopment material offer complementary perspectives: individual buildings and early settlement on one hand, and the evolution of the former independent downtown on the other.
Sources
- City of Melbourne: Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront CRA: https://www.melbourneflorida.org/Government/Departments/Community-Development/Community-Redevelopment-Areas/Olde-Eau-Gallie-Riverfront-CRA
- City of Melbourne: Portraits Honoring Melbourne's Founders Now on Display at City Hall: https://www.melbourneflorida.org/News-articles/Portraits-Honoring-Melbourne%E2%80%99s-Founders-Now-on-Display-at-City-Hall
- City of Melbourne: Historic designation report, 105 East Avenue B: https://www.melbourneflorida.org/files/assets/public/v/1/community-development/historic-preservation/105-eaveb.pdf
